Septic Tank - Rotting Civilisation (Album Review)

Septic Tank - Rotting Civilisation

Track Listing:

01. Septic Tank

02. Who

03. Victimised

04. Social Media Whore

05. Divide & Conk Out

06. Treasurers of Disease

07. Fucked

08. Whitewash

09. Death Vase

10. You Want Some

11. Digging Your Own Grave

12. Danger Signs

13. Walking Asylum

14. Lost Humanity

15. Never Never Land

16. Self Obsessed

17. Living Death

18. Rotten Empire

Lee Dorrian – Vocals (Cathedral, With The Dead)

Gary Jennings – Guitar (Cathedral, Death Penalty)

Scott Carlson – Bass (Cathedral, Repulsion)

Jaime Gómez Arellano – Drums (Blutvial)

Originally a side project for Cathedral in 1994 as a low-key chance to play with some Discharge style punk/metal as opposed to the Doom laden sounds that Dorrian & Co mixed up with some added Psych and prog.

Septic Tank’s original line-up featured Dorrian & Jennings from Cathedral with drummer Barry Stern (ex-Trouble) and Repulsion’s Scott Carlson on bass.

“We talked about doing it again many times, but it took us 20 years to make a record,” Lee Dorrian explains. “As you know, Scott re-joined Cathedral for the last few gigs and the last album. We were recording (final Cathedral record) The Last Spire at the end of 2012 and we’d done all we needed to do and had some spare time in the studio. So we revived the Septic Tank idea and literally bashed out an entire EP, writing and recording, in an afternoon, in just six hours.”

The result of this brief resurgence was 2013’s self-titled seven-inch EP, released only in Japan and limited to 900 copies.

With Lee, Gaz and Scott now joined by drummer (and legendary producer) Jamie ‘Gomez’ Arellano it seemed only a matter of time before something new happened, so after 20 years they finally recorded an album in just five days.

“It’s quite mad that we’re finally releasing an album,” Lee concludes. “I don’t think most people know that this band exists! But you never lose your passion for this stuff. It’s just in our DNA and our veins, really. Like with most things, we’ll put it out there and see what happens, but we’d like to do more records and I’m sure there’ll be more shows too. We’re chuffed to be doing it!”

So take the opening track and it’s a full on assault of super fuzzed out hardcore death metal, yep you can see the punk influence and even dare I say harking back to those early Napalm Death days, yet even in this opening number there is a hint of doom lurking!

Next couple of tracks do the same thing really, then up comes ‘Social Media Whore’, now this one has a definite Hellhammer meets Discharge feel, great bit of noise really.

‘Divide & Conk Out’ sounds like Tank and Motorhead, neat little guitar solo thrown in just to top it off.

Great doom intro to ‘Death Vase’ and have to say Mr. Dorrian does a great impression of Tom Warrior! Fucking awesome crushing, slow and pounding, definitely my favourite track thus far.

Then with ‘You Want Some’ some proper old school skuzzy punk metal, this style continues on for the next few tracks until we arrive at some proto thrash punk with ‘Never Never Land’ and right to the last song continues in this vein.

To sum up I have to once again commend Mr Dorrian for his talent, ability and knowledge of all things “Rock ‘N’ Roll”  and finding the right musicians to be able to take something that is essentially retro/old school and make it fresh, modern and bloody enjoyable!

Rating 9/10

For Fans of:  Discharge, Warfare, Ravens Creed, Hellhammer, Charged GBH, Venom

Lockersludge - Drawing Lessons EP (CD Review)

01.Burden Of Pain
02.Guilt, Anger And Agression
03.Drawing Lessons
04.The Beard Of Doom
05.Burn In Hell


Mark Lockyer (Vocals/Drums)
Andy Lockyer (Guitar)
Brew (Bass)

3 piece doom/sludge with a hardcore edge from South Devon formed circa 2011.
Lockersludge essentially started out as a side project for Mark and Andy they have now recruited bassist Brew so they can begin rehearsals and take the project out live. Mark and A having been playing together since 1993 also enjoying slow, sludge (bands like Melvins & Eyehategod) power metal (Pantera) as well as an appreciation for the old skool hardcore scene (Madball, Biohazard) & the hardcore scene of today (Terror, Sworn Enemy) believing that there is no heavier form of music.

Maybe it's because of the punk vocal style and the lack of doom structure, i really don't get the doom/sludge tag here at all.

The first four songs are more of a grunge/sludge hybrid, nice raw sound with the instruments, but because of the shout it out/sneering vocal style this sounds more like Cockney Rejects play metal, Oi Metal???
It has a real dont care/fuck you attitude, simple punchy riffs over a basic drum beat and then short burst guitar solos.

It's not agressive enough to have a clear Hardcore tag either, really the more i listen to these songs i just get punk every time.

Now with that said the last song 'Burn In Hell' has a different feel, slow rhythmic drum pattern and obvious doom guitar, now here's the thing the lyrics are those of a certain Mr Dorain and this does "Borrow" quite a lot from Hopkins Witchfinder General, a hell of a lot, most of it actually, yet they still make this a punk rocker of a song.

Weird bunch can't quite work out what they are or what they want to achieve with the music.

Rating 8/10
For fans Of: Viking Skull, Anti Nowhere League, Warfare

Black Pestilence - Outsiders (CD Review)

01.Cult Class
02.Silent Assassin
03.Unseen Force
04.Horns For The Devil
05.Sonic Static
06.Cellblock
07.Razing Taboo
08.Voiceless Generation


Valax (Bass/Vocals)
Viktor (Guitar)
Little V (Drums)

Canadian band formed in 2008, Black Pestilence combines grimy punk rock with electronic noise, all through the devastation of black metal. In 2009, Black Pestilence's first full­length album, "Vice" was independently released. “Vice” was originally released as a one­man solo project. However, later on Valax recruited live members in order to take the music to the live stage. Founding member, Valax simply describes the music as "black metal built on punk and noise."
In 2011, "Tradition is Obsolete" was released. This album is a representation of Black Pestilence's more experimental side with a strong emphasis placed on electronic noise and samples.
In 2013 Black Pestilence released their third full­length album, “In Defiance”. This album was by far their fastest and most fierce release, it featured intense speed from street punk, all presented through the furious lens of black metal and otherworldly samples.

Wow what an intresting mix of styles, listening to 'Cult Class' we get a sampled start, then the drums kick with some brilliant bass work, like early 80's punk bands, then as the speed picks up even more it gets this Motorhead vibe, the vocals are very rough and the backing is very "shout it out".

'Silent Assassin' begins with some electronic samples and then turns into a very punky metal song, again really ahve to pick out that bass playing, its got a great live and raw sound.

So from the punk/metal genre we now move somewhere totally different with 'Unseen Force', this is a slow an almost symphonic/goth sounding song, except its very electronic and has a vocal tubed effect on it, the heavier elements come in with death metal precision, this could almost be Fear Factory or Ministry.

The next few songs return to the punk/metal style and then finally we end with 'Voiceless Generation', a mid paced mix of samples over bass and drums then towards the end when the keyboards come in it gets symphonic.

I dont know which band member is the samples/keyboard guy but he really does this very well, this is a great an very unexpected album, electronic punk, the one thing i didnt get from any of the songs was black metal, so this is not in "Aborym" territory.

Rating 9/10
For Fans Of: Anything from Ministry to UK Subs!!!!!

Cendra - 666 Bastards (CD Review)

01.Satanic D-beat
02.Argh!!!
03.666 Bastards
04.Mort
05.Dalla
06.Cemintiri Rocker
07.Sang, Suor i Alcohol
08.Tot és Una Porqueria!
09.Fart
10.Dimonis Motöritzats
11.Privant Fins Rebentar
12.Castell Okupat


Joey (Drums/Vocals)
Malparit (Guitar)
Aggressor (Bass)

Blackened Punk Metal band from Catalonia, formed in 2011.
Released 2 demos in 2012 and then an album a year later, since then just an EP and a compilation, now they are back with a new album, it's going to be loud!

'Satanic D-Beat' opens with some tortured souls sound samples, then this really crisp and heavy as fuck guitar kicks in backed by furious drumming and gutteral vocals, all this reminds me of the good old days of Venom.

Aside from a couple of timing changes the next track 'Argh!!!!' is the same as the first and the next few, yep also does the same.

'Cemintiri Rocker' comes across as a straight forward speed/thrash song circa 1983, again a very clean guitar sound and played with absolute precision.

Then its back to the venom again for the last few tracks which may or may not be sung in spanish, i could not tell.

You may think this brief review is somewhat negative maybe you think i should say more, the reality is it all sounds the same, but in this case thats a good thing!

Rating 10/10
For fans of: Venom, Warfare, Hellhammer, Discharge, Darkthrone